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Backroom politicking handpicks likely new MP for Brandon

A pending byelection for one of Manitoba’s seats in the House of Commons has statecrafters who care about the process in a tizzy. In particular, Green Party leader Elizabeth May is speaking about it today and tomorrow on a trip through Manitoba.

For the uninitiated, Canada’s compressed elections schedule and arbitrary selection of election dates means that the primary process where candidates are chosen by each party is filled instead by a voting session of the local party in the electoral district.

Historically placing this power in the hands of the party, rather than an impartial body, enables the art of the insiders conspiring against the public in smoky rooms. Two potential challengers to the Conservative Party’s ‘acclaimed’ candidate, Larry Maguire, were disqualified over paperwork issues